I travel a lot and I travel light, typically with only a backpack. I’m always reevaluating what and why I carry what I carry. My preference is to keep things simple for myself and to have only what I need. If I discover I really need something else, I purchase it on location, rather than carrying it “just in case.”

This practice allows for several things:

Less weight

Easier movement

Increased flexibility

My stuff is always with me

What You Carry

Weight matters and the longer the trip, the more aware of weight you become, particularly if you’re holding it all on your person. Weight also matters when it comes to the choices we make daily regarding what we “carry” with us as we go.

Grudges, offenses, disappointments, dislikes, distrusts, anger, hurts, negativity, self-righteousness, mean-spiritedness, unhelpfulness, judgments, not willing, and self-centeredness are all on the packing list for each of us at some point.

The Weight of the Matter

Imagine removing one of those heavier items from your pack. What would it feel like to no longer hold that grudge against your co-worker? Or what if you didn’t get upset when your ideas and solutions are dismissed, overlooked or disregarded? And what if that decision has nothing at all to do with you, anyway?

When you slowly and intentionally unpack what you’re actually carrying you might be surprised to discover all the extras you have in your bag. And when you examine and remove each item separately, you might also be surprised at how relieved you feel.

Additionally, you’ll find that carrying less weight allows you to navigate your days and weeks easier. You’re more flexible with your time and with yourself because you’re no longer using so much of your internal resources to avoid conversations, demand attention, gossip and spread your weight around as you seek validation and support for your decision to constantly carry it.

It’s Always With You

This is the double-edged sword of the packing predicament:

Whatever I pack, I carry.

When I pack only my essentials, and don’t worry or stress about the rest, I have the best trips. I’m carrying what I choose to carry — nothing more and nothing less.

Your choice is no different: what you are carrying, you’ve packed and are repacking it daily to take it again, regardless of need.

Growing up I had to pack my own lunch for school and I always packed the same thing: peanut butter and jelly sandwich plus some carrots. I loved that meal and I loved how simple it was. I never grew tired of eating the same thing every single day.

Do you love what you’re packing and carrying? Can you happily continue packing, carrying and using the contents of your emotional bag? Is there anything you’d like to unpack?

Let me be clear: you are the one who packs and carries for you. No one else is responsible for anything you’re carrying. If you’re carrying something you believe has been given to you against your wishes or without your consent and you can’t remove it, please reply to this email and tell me what it is.

With all my heart I want to encourage you to look even closer at that item and see whether what you’re actually carrying is your own opinion (negative or otherwise) about an experience. We can always work much easier on tidying up our own bags than reaching into someone else’s.

May your travels today and this week be lighter than yesterday’s trip.

Let’s imagine for a moment that you’ve just collected your mail for the day.

As you pull the assorted envelopes and papers out of your box, you pause briefly to flip through the stack. Your eyes light on a colorful envelope with a handwritten address and your heart rate slightly increases with anticipation because you recognize that writing; it’s from someone you love. Memories of shared experiences with that person flood your brain and everything else in your world now ceases to exist until you’ve opened that envelope and read its contents word for word.

We tend to approach our work in the same way we get the mail: haphazardly and rushed. Somedays we barely have time to collect the post at all. When we do, we cram our arms full of the papers, fliers and envelopes spilling out of the box, casually flipping through them to see if anything stands out.

What if every project is a handwritten letter from someone you love and not a stuffed box of junk mail?

Slow down.

When we slow down we see the details that being in a hurry overlooks. Seeing details enables us to create solutions, to simplify processes, and to be an owner of that process, rather than a victim of a system.

There is plenty of time to accomplish all you wish to accomplish.

When was the last time you received a hand-written note or letter from someone? When did you last write and mail one to someone else?